The mother of a San Clemente teen who became a martyr for the anti-bullying movement signs copies of her new book Saturday.
Anna Mendez, the author of If These Halls Could Talk, is scheduled to be at San Clemente Library, 242 Avenida Del Mar, from 1-3 p.m.
San Clemente High School sophomore Daniel Mendez's suicide on May 1, 2009, led to a lawsuit brought by his family against Capistrano Unified School District and the formation of the anti-bullying Cool 2 B Kind club on campus.
In her book, Anna Mendez attempts to put readers in her 16-year-old son's shoes, allowing them to experience life as a teen who has been on the wrong side of bullying for years and the fatal consequences that come when friends and authority figures look the other way.
If These Halls Could Talk “was written not only for Daniel but for every child who has dreaded stepping foot in a school's hallways for fear of assault and abuse,” according to the publisher.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.